Walking through the desolate mountains where foxes and rabbits thrived, the man with the sword strapped to his back suddenly stopped in front of a tombstone. He walked up beside the tombstone which stood in front of a small dirt mound and squatted down next to it, removing the weeds that were growing around it and revealing its true appearance. 

The characters on it had already become fuzzy, and only less than half of it could still be deciphered. The man sighed and said, "The Divine Dao is collapsing, and the Ritual and Music System is flourishing. The battle between the hundred schools of thought is about to begin."

When the man stood up, he saw that his disciple who was still yet to become a formal disciple of True Martial Mountain facing the direction that they had come from. Blood was seeping from Ma Kuxuan's mouth, ears, and nose, causing his tanned face to appear especially wicked and terrifying. He used his forearm to roughly wipe his blood away before continuing to stare in that direction.

"Ma Kuxuan, according to the excuse you gave me before, you wanted to head over there because of that young girl from the outside world. You told me that she teamed up with the prince and eunuch from Great Sui Nation and used her flying sword to kill your first master. You told me that this left a knot in your heart, so you needed to find her to exact revenge. I felt like your request was reasonable, so I didn't stop you from going. I allowed you to take control of your own life and death. After all, being able to encounter such Dao enemies is both a danger and an opportunity for us cultivators and martial artists."

The man's voice became solemn, and he showed no signs of being lenient on his disciple just because he was talented. "However, you targeted the young boy from Clay Vase Alley instead. Why? I already told you before that Militarian cultivators from True Martial Mountain, especially swordsmen, definitely shouldn't attack and kill innocent people for no reason!"

Ma Kuxuan sidestepped the question, and he instead replied with a question of his own, asking, "Are Militarians most able to ignore karma and preordained fate?"

The man nodded and replied, "Casting one's gaze through several thousand years of history, those who are able to use their own strength to turn the tides of a time are indeed mostly Militarian Sages. I'm not saying this on purpose simply because I'm a Militarian as well."

The man kept...